This invention relates to the general field of emergency services. More particularly, a portable sand bag hopper is presented that may be used in remote locations.
In the field of emergency services it is often necessary to fill sand bags, particularly in flooding conditions. Hundreds of thousands of sand bags are often required for dykes or temporary dams. The need for a large number of sand bags under emergency conditions is often required at remote locations without power or other sources of energy. While sand bags are very useful to control rising water, filling the sand bags at remote locations can be cumbersome and time consuming, relying particularly on manual labor.
A number of prior patents have approached the problem of rapid and efficient sand bag filling. One such device, described in the 2000 US patent issued to Wilham (U.S. Pat. No. 6,119,740) is for a sand bag filler having a hopper 3 and a lower discharge door 6. This Wilham device is made to be attached to a larger discharge hopper or bin which fills the lower hopper as desired. The door of Wilham is attached to the lower outside part of the bin and pivots vertically to discharge sand into sand bags. While Wilham is useful in places where access to a larger bin or hopper is available, it could not be used in remote locations and is not designed to be used independently of a larger sand hopper. It is an object of this invention to provide a highly portable device for filling sand bags at remote emergency locations. It is another object of this device to provide an independently operated sand bag hopper where sand is deposited in an upper cone and discharged into a sand bag by pulling a lever.
Several portable devices for filling sand bags have been introduced into this field previously. Both of the sand bag fillers described by Henderson (1999 U.S. Pat. No. 5,927,356) and by Payne (2002 U.S. Pat. No. 6,374,874) are portable. Henderson's device for dispensing fluent materials has a discharge chute 6 but no lower door. The Henderson device, although portable, does not allow for the dispensing of a discrete, pre-determined amount of sand into an empty sand bag. Payne disclosed a circular log-type sand bag filler that rotates from the horizontal to the vertical to discharge sand into the lower sand bag. While useful, the Payne device, when filled with heavy sand, must be rotated upwardly to fill the sand bag. Payne also does not allow for the discharge of a discrete amount of sand into a sand bag. It is a further object of this invention to provide a highly portable sand bag filler that allows a workman to fill a discrete amount of sand into a sand bag at a remote location. Another object of this invention is to provide a sand bag filler requiring no electricity or outside power that requires that the sand be lifted only once prior to discharge into the sand bag, by filling the lower cone to a discrete and predetermined level.
The instant sand bag hopper is lightweight, safe and highly portable. Requiring no outside power source, it may be used for filling sand bags at any location that a workman can reach on foot. Due to its design, sand need only be lifted once as it is loaded into the cone. Since the lower cone door is biased closed, sand bags may be rapidly prepared with a precise amount of predetermined sand with much less manpower required for other devices. It is a still further object of this invention to provide a safe, efficient, labor-saving, highly portable sand bag hopper for filling sand bags at a remote location.
Other and further objects of this invention will become obvious upon reading the below description of the device.